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ARAK iii. Basic Population Data, 1956-2011 This article deals with the following population characteristics of Arak city: population growth from 1956 to 2011, age structure, average household size, literacy rate, and economic activity status for 2006 and/or 2011 (different dates for the categories are determined by the availability of census…

ARAKADRI- (or Arkadri-, Elam. Ḫa-rak-qatar-ri-iš, Akk. kurA-ra-ka-ad-ri-ʾ), name of uncertain meaning given in Darius I’s inscription (DB 1.37) to a mountain in the region of Pišiyāuvādā (or Paišiya(h)uvādā). It was the seat of Gaumāta, the false Bardiya (Smerdis), whence he revolted against Darius. Pišiyāuvādā has been identified with Pasargadae in…

AṘAKʿEL OF TABRĪZ, Armenian historian, born at Tabrīz in the 1590s, died at Etchmiadzin in Armenia in 1670. He studied at the theological seminary of Etchmiadzin, where he was ordained a vardapet (celibate priest). In 1636 he was appointed abbot of the monastery of Yovhannavankʿ in the region of Aštarak…

ARAL SEA, Daryā(ča)-ye Ḵᵛārazm, inland sea in western Turkestan, bounded since 1924 and 1936 by Karakalpaqistan (part of the Soviet Republic of Uzbekistan) in the south and Kazakhstan in the north. Known as boḥayrat Ḵᵛārazm to the Arab geographers in the Middle Ages, it was later called the sea of…

ARAMAIC i. General. ii. Iranian loanwords in Early Aramaic. iii. Iranian loanwords in Middle Aramaic.   i. General Aramaic is the comprehensive name for numerous dialects of a Northwest Semitic language closely related to Hebrew and Arabic, first attested in inscriptions dating from the ninth to eighth centuries B. C.,…

ĀRĀN, a small town about 10 km north of Kāšān. In 1354 Š./1975, Ārān was amalgamated with nearby Bīdgol to form a town with municipal status under the name of Golārā; the ordinance was apparently revoked after the revolution of 1357 Š./1979 and the old names reinstated. Both Ārān and…

ARANG, a river in ancient Iranian tradition. Middle Persian Arang/Arag renders Avestan Raŋhā, which is cognate with the Scythian name Rhâ (*Rahā) transmitted by Ptolemy and with Old Indic Rasāˊ (cf. Rása- “sap, juice, marrow;” on other Indo-European connections, see M. Mayrhofer, Kurzgefasstes etymologisches Wörterbuch des Altindischen II, Heidelberg, 1964,…

ARĀNĪ, TAQĪ (1281-1318 Š./1902-40), Iranian Marxist and intellectual initiator of the communist Tudeh Party. i. Biography. ii. Political thoughts and activities.   i. Biography Dr. Tāqi Arānī was born in Tabrīz the son of a civil servant, raised in Tehran, and educated at the Dār al Fonūn and the Medical…

ARARAT, MOUNT (Pers. Kūh-e Nūḥ, Arm. Masis or Masik, Turk. Ağr dağ or Eğri dağ), extinct volcano in the northeastern extremity of Turkey close to the Iran-Soviet frontiers. Mt. Ararat rises more than 4000 m above the plains of the Araxes basin (İğdir depression, altitude 875 m) to the northeast…

ĀRAŠ, Avestan ƎRƎXŠA, Middle Persian ĒRAŠ, a heroic archer in Iranian legend. i. In older literature. ii. In modern literature.   i. In Older Literature The Avesta (Yašt 8.6) refers to what was apparently a familiar episode in the epic tradition: Ǝrəxša “of the swift arrow, having the swiftest arrow…

ĀRAŠ, KAY, Avestan KAVI ARŠAN, a member of the Kayanid dynasty in Iranian legend. He receives only passing mention in the Avesta (Yt. 13.132, 19.71), without reference to his father. The Middle Persian Bundahišn names him (p. 232.2; ms. TD1; Tehran, 1349 Š./1970, p. 199.10) and his three brothers (Kay…